Christian families beaten and left without water in latest horrifying persecution

Christians have been beaten by Hindu villagers and had water for their crops cruelly snatched leaving them fighting for survival.

Four families claim they were beaten with sticks in India’s Utter Pradesh state and forced to take part in Hindu rituals.

They claim other Christians have been targeted in Jalalabad village, Ghazipur District and the targeted hate campaign is affecting their livelihood after the extremists cut off the water supply to their crops.

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The attack comes as India records more than 250 attacks on Christians in the country so far this year.

India has seen persecution levels rise dramatically in the last four years with up to 15 violent attacks on Christians every week in 2016, according to advocacy charity Open Doors.

Tensions have escalated between Christian communities and Hindu extremists with five states in India banning people from converting to Christianity.

Christian villagers in Jalalabad accused police of colluding with their attackers by ordering their water supply to be shut off.

The families say they have been told if they stop holding church services the water will be restored.

Sasikala Kumari told Morning Star News: “How will we survive if we don’t grow our crops? They have all joined together and are conspiring against us.”

The victims say they were beaten with sticks and accused of forcing Hindus to convert to Christianity.

It is claimed the families were ordered to take part in Hindu rituals with the village chief leading the mob.

Village President Gupta said he cannot prevent the Hindus from cutting off the Christians’ water.

He said: “As far as the problem about the supply of water, it’s personal. If nobody in the village wants to sell them water from the bore wells, it’s their personal choice.”

There are an estimated 63 million Christians in India with 80 per cent of the country’s 1.3 billion population identifying as Hindu.

After Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in state elections, emboldened Hindu extremists are attacking Christians and other minorities, according to human rights activists.

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